Her mother huffed. “It’s all about efficiency, my dear.”
Cass grinned. “Exactly.”
Her father sighed. “Honestly, you two. Sit back and relax. Jenny, you’re going to give yourself an ulcer if you don’t slow down.”
The familiar banter soothed Cass, and she relaxed into her chair as they teased each other about working harder and working smarter. Then they turned to her.
“So, how are things at work? How’s Jed?”
Her parents loved her partner, especially because he had a stable, loving homelife with Shannon and the twins. A high mark of praise from her father, considering a police officer’s tough profession.
“Good. All good.” She paused and, frowning, blurted, “Except Shannon tried setting me up with a new guy I work with. And that on top of matchmaking at a party they tricked me into going to. I mean, I work with the guy. No way I can date him and not have that blow back in my face.” Not that she would.
Her mother nodded. “Exactly. Never muddy the drinking water, I say.”
The wordmudmade Mack Revere’s face pop into her mind’s eye, and Cass fixated on him despite herself. She still considered that she’d gotten the best of him the other day and smiled. “But on a good note, we would have won our soccer game Saturday if those cheating firefighters hadn’t gotten us all booted from the game. They started a mud fight.”
Her parents laughed.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t be there,” her dad said. “Your mother was in surgery, and I had an emergency with a client. He’s fine, but he needed my help right away.”
She waved away his apology. “No biggie. You guys can come to the next one. If we have it. Looks like it’s going to snow sooner than they keep predicting. I can taste it in the air.”
“You know it.” Her mother paused to smile up at their server, who delivered their food.
Cass blinked and waited until she left to say, “You must have promised one heck of a tip. I just ordered, and my food is already here.”
“The server’s mother is at Swedish, and I know her doctor. We chatted a bit before we sat down.” Jenny was a top cardiologist at Swedish First Hill Campus, a premier hospital on Broadway downtown.
Aaron grinned. “Your mother gets stuff done. She’s the queen of networking.”
“No kidding.”
Cass nibbled on the mouthwatering focaccia at the table, loving the flavorful bread she dipped in spiced olive oil. She did her best not to dive into her plate and smother herself in the delectable pappardelle Bolognese, her absolute favorite. Since she’d been raised to have manners, she forced herself to eat slowly.
At home she’d have stuffed her face full. Because there’d have been no one there to see.
Her mother winked at her. “You’re just like me, honey. I see great things in your future.”
Cass swallowed before saying, “Thanks.”
They ate for a while, talking about the uptick in heart patients and anxiety in teens. She filled them in on Mrs. Cleary’s recent visit, inciting laughter.
Her mother left to use the restroom.
And then, as expected, her father gave Cass a wide smile and said, “You look good. You sound like everything is going well.” Pause. “But I worry about you.”
She mentally groaned but said nothing, letting her silence do the talking.
“Honey, you have no social life outside work. That’s not healthy.”
“Dad, please. I’m fine.”
“Jed’s fine. Your sergeant is fine. Your captain is fine. They have healthy relationships outside work. Being a police officer is stressful. You need something to release all that tension or you’ll have problems.”
Alcohol, drugs, abusive relationships. She’d been told this time and time again by both her father and the many lectures the officers received from the station’s positive reinforcement expert, a perky woman who insisted talking about problems would promote a stable and healthy homelife. The new statewide program was supposed to help first responders with an outreach, a place to go when they needed help.
But Cass preferred to keep her problems private. Something her oversharing father didn’t understand.
